Generation of an application from data

ABSTRACT

Examples of the disclosure provide for receiving a data set at a design surface from a data source, and inferring a first data type from the data set. A first control type is generated for the inferred first data type. A second data type is inferred from the data set and a second control type is generated for the inferred second data type, with the first control type and the second control type being different. A layout is generated for an application document that includes the first control type and the second control type.

BACKGROUND

Creating an executable computer program generally involves generatingalgorithms, verifying the correctness of the algorithms, andimplementing the algorithms into a programming language. This processoften requires expertise in many areas, including coding in the targetprogramming language. For example, in an Integrated DeveloperEnvironment such as MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO, a designer exists to createa user interface form for an application. Typically, application data isobtained from a database with metadata, and the metadata is used togenerate forms for the different types of data within the database.

Spreadsheet software such as MICROSOFT EXCEL has allowed for users toinput data into cells without specifying a data type, and in some casesinfers a data type for the input data to change the format of a cellautomatically. For example, a series of six consecutive numerals withina cell is often automatically formatted as a date using a default dateformat. The default date format may be changed to a different dateformat by a user selecting from a list of available date formats, or theformatted cell may be changed by a user selecting a different data type,such as a currency rather than a date for the numbers within the cell.However developer environments may require data from a spreadsheet to beimported into a relational database that provides the metadata needed tocreate the user interface form for the application.

Presentation software such as MICROSOFT POWER POINT has allowed forusers to generate slides using modifiable templates, or in some casescreate slides from a blank slide document by inserting components anddata manually. However, because presentation software is usually focusedon a static presentation of data, there is often no concern withproviding dynamic data or opportunities for user interaction to affectdata.

SUMMARY

Examples of the disclosure provide a system and method for automaticallygenerating an application from data. Applications are generatedautomatically using source data received within the developerenvironment, such as on the design surface. Data types are inferred fromanalysis of the data itself, and controls are automatically generatedfor the inferred data types, to provide a modifiable applicationdocument, such that a user may modify visual elements, layout, and evendata access for the application without having to write any code. Theapplication document is editable and modifiable, allowing a user tocontinue building and exposing or hiding functionality of theapplication to customize and application through continued manipulationof visual controls and elements. Because the application is generatedautomatically, including the controls based on inferred data types, theyare likely to involve less error at generation and at runtime. Inaddition, because the application is generated automatically, includingthe forms for modifying the layout and functionality, the applicationmay also be optimized for runtime efficiency. Further, because theapplication is automatically generated, application behaviors such asmodifiable data access may be generated with less intrinsic knowledge ofthe system, and of coding in general.

Aspects of the disclosure provide a developer environment that any user,regardless of development experience or lack thereof, may utilize tocreate applications. General workplace computing skills, similar toskills employed when using MICROSOFT OFFICE or similar programs, aretranslated into a development environment. Because the applications aregenerated automatically from data, and may use data in a two-dimensionalflat table or otherwise outside a relational database, they furtherincrease efficiency of a developer or user in development of anapplication. In addition, the development environment is translated to anon-developer user in such a way as to provide application developmentfor any user, increasing the speed of application development. Fasterapplication development may save time for the user, and ultimately useless processor cycles and machine resources.

For example, a user may start with an identified data source and providea data set to design an application around, such that aspects of thisdisclosure create an application around the selected data set, based onsource data design or layout, providing the user with the capabilitiesto view, add, delete, and sort data from the data set within theautomatically generated application. Using skills typically alreadydeveloped in using presentation software to create a slide showpresentation, a user visually modifies the layout of the application andhow application content is presented. Aspects of the disclosureautomatically generate the expressions for the application behaviorbased on user selections and placements of components, providing amodifiable application document that a user may continue to customize tointeract with the data set.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a computing device forgenerating an application.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a developerenvironment for generating an application from data.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating operation of thecomputing device to import data and generate an application using theimported data.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating operation of thecomputing device to infer data types and generate controls for theimported data.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary table illustrating a data control table formapping inferred data types to control types.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an interactive designsurface.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an interactive designsurface for identifying a data source for application design.

FIGS. 8A & 8B are exemplary diagrams illustrating an interactive designsurface for identifying a data set for application design.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, and 9F are exemplary diagrams illustrating aninteractive design surface for providing a modifiable applicationdocument.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating an operatingenvironment for a computing device implementing developer environment.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a cloud computingenvironment for generating an application using a template.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding partsthroughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the figures, examples of the disclosure enable the creationof an application from data. Generating an application using codegenerally requires a knowledge of programming, data capabilities andcompatibilities, and so forth. Aspects of the disclosure provide forautomatic generation of an application using source data itself to inferdata types and automatically generate controls and layouts along withassociated logic based on the inferred data types, providing amodifiable application document for user customization.

Additionally, the examples described herein enable applications to begenerated and/or modified in an efficient and effective manner usingselected data as a starting point for application design. By generatingand/or modifying an application as described in this disclosure, someexamples reduce processing load and/or increase processing speed bystrategically managing computational, processing, memory, and/or otherresources. The effect of identifying and inferring types of data from aselected data set, used to automatically generate an application withcontrols for the inferred data types, improves performance of theapplication as well as the device hosting the application. Additionally,some examples may conserve memory, reduce network bandwidth usage,improve operating system resource allocation, and/or improvecommunication between computing devices by streamlining at least someoperations, such as automated generation of application controls basedon an inferred data type of selected or imported data, by automating atleast some operations.

Referring again to FIG. 1, an exemplary block diagram illustrates acomputing device for generating an application. In the example of FIG.1, the computing device 102 associated with a user 104 represents asystem for application design. The computing device represents anydevice executing instructions (e.g., as application programs, operatingsystem functionality, or both) to implement the operations andfunctionality as described herein. The computing device may include amobile computing device or any other portable device. In some examples,the mobile computing device includes a mobile telephone, laptop, tablet,computing pad, netbook, gaming device, and/or portable media player. Thecomputing device may also include less portable devices such as desktoppersonal computers, kiosks, tabletop devices, industrial controldevices, wireless charging stations, and electric automobile chargingstations. Additionally, the computing device may represent a group ofprocessing units or other computing devices.

In some examples, the computing device has at least one processor 106, amemory area 108, and at least one user interface. The processor includesany quantity of processing units, and is programmed to executecomputer-executable instructions for implementing aspects of thedisclosure. The instructions may be performed by the processor or bymultiple processors within the computing device, or performed by aprocessor external to the computing device. In some examples, theprocessor is programmed to execute instructions such as thoseillustrated in the figures (e.g., FIG. 3 and FIG. 4).

In some examples, the processor represents an implementation of analogtechniques to perform the operations described herein. For example, theoperations may be performed by an analog computing device and/or adigital computing device.

The computing device further has one or more computer readable mediasuch as the memory area. The memory area includes any quantity of mediaassociated with or accessible by the computing device. The memory areamay be internal to the computing device (as shown in FIG. 1), externalto the computing device (not shown), or both (not shown). In someexamples, the memory area includes read-only memory and/or memory wiredinto an analog computing device.

The memory area stores, among other data, one or more applications. Theapplications, when executed by the processor, operate to performfunctionality on the computing device. Exemplary applications includedeveloper environment 110, which may represent an application fordesigning other executable applications. The applications maycommunicate with counterpart applications or services such as webservices accessible via a network (not shown). For example, theapplications may represent downloaded client-side applications thatcorrespond to server-side services executing in a cloud. In someexamples, applications generated may be configured to communicate withdata sources and other computing resources in a cloud during runtime, ormay share and/or aggregate data between client-side services and cloudservices. Data sources 112 may represent any type of data sourceaccessible by computing device 102, whether at another computing device,in a cloud, at a network storage location, or any other suitable datastorage location. In some examples, the memory area may store datasources 112, or a subset of data sources 112, which may represent datastored locally at memory area 108. In other examples, memory area 108may store data access points associated with data stored remote fromcomputing device 102 at data sources 112, or any combination of localand remote data.

The memory area further stores one or more computer-executablecomponents. Exemplary components include a user interface component. Theuser interface component 114, when executed by the processor 106 ofcomputing device 102, cause the processor 106 to perform operations,including to receive user selections during user interaction withdeveloper environment 110, for example.

In some examples, the user interface component includes a graphics cardfor displaying data to the user and receiving data from the user. Theuser interface component may also include computer-executableinstructions (e.g., a driver) for operating the graphics card. Further,the user interface component may include a display (e.g., a touch screendisplay or natural user interface) and/or computer-executableinstructions (e.g., a driver) for operating the display. The userinterface component may also include one or more of the following toprovide data to the user or receive data from the user: speakers, asound card, a camera, a microphone, a vibration motor, one or moreaccelerometers, a BLUETOOTH brand communication module, globalpositioning system (GPS) hardware, and a photoreceptive light sensor.For example, the user may input commands or manipulate data by movingthe computing device in a particular way. In another example, the usermay input commands or manipulate data by providing a gesture detectableby the user interface component, such as a touch or tap of a touchscreen display or natural user interface.

Developer environment 110 provides design tools and a design environmentfor application design and generation. In some examples, developerenvironment 110 includes design surface 116, component library 118,layout library 120, theme library 122, connections list 124, and set ofpolicies 126. Design surface 116 may be an interactive canvas orinteractive design surface of developer environment 110. In someexamples, design surface 116 is part of an interactive graphical userinterface displayed on an interactive computing device. For example,design surface 116 may be an interactive surface communicatively coupledto a gesture detection mechanism, such as gesture detection component ofa touchscreen, such that gestures detected are used to communicateinteraction with the developer environment, or elements of the developerenvironment.

Component library 118 may include one or more application components orcontrols, which may be selected or used in application design. In someexamples, component library 118 may have templated components that maybe selected and customized with data via user interaction with designsurface 116. Example components may include, without limitation, textcontrols, gallery controls, visual layout controls, animation controls,navigation controls, labels, and the like. As one example, componentlibrary 118 includes a toggle switch, which is a graphical element thatprovides an indication or exposure of some Boolean logic, usually as ayes/no or true/false indication. With a toggle switch, selection of onevalue between two possible values is made by selecting one side of theswitch or the other, or by moving the indicator from one side to theother, with the two sides of the switch associated with the twodifferent possible values, in this example. As used herein, componentmay refer to a control, an object, an entity, or any component that maybe used in an application or program, whether during design or atruntime.

Layout library 120 may include one or more application layouts, orvisual layouts, associated with visual placement of application controlsas well as visual placement of data within application controls. Layoutlibrary 120 may have templated visual layouts that may be selected orcustomized with data via user interaction with design surface 116. Forexample, one type of component from component library 118 may be a listcomponent, which may be associated with several different visual layoutsfrom layout library 120. A default list layout may be used whenautomatically generating a list control for selected data, in someexamples, with layout library 120 providing the different selectablelist layouts at design surface 116 in an edit mode for a user to selecta different visual layout of the data within the list control.

Theme library 122 may include one or more application themes, or visualcomponents other than layout, such as color schemes, font selections,font sizes, visual effects, and the like. For example, theme library 122may provide a list of different visual themes for an application design,which may be selectable via design surface 116 during customization ofthe automatically generated application.

Connections list 124 identifies data source locations, such as datasources 112, where data may be identified for import into developerenvironment 110 for application design using the imported data. Designlogic of developer environment 110 may identify data sources 112 andprovides the identified data source locations as connections list 124,in some examples. In other examples, user 104 may provide credentialsfor access and connection to one or more data source locations at datasources 112, which may become part of connections list 124 for futureuse.

Developer environment 110 may include connector 128, a connectionservice that creates a connection provider between the developerenvironment and a data source. For example, the connector may create aconnection provider between the developer environment and a social mediasite or a customer relationship management system, such that the socialmedia site or the customer relationship management system becomes aselectable data source of connections list 124. Connector 128 may createconnections, and connection providers, using a consent flow orauthorization flow to obtain authentication data and connect to aconnection, in some examples. In other examples, a connection may bespecific to a tenant in the cloud, set up by the user, or set up by anorganization and opaque to the user, providing credentials to connect tothe data source. The connection providers created by connector 128 mayconvert data from a data source into a two-dimensional table for use bydeveloper environment to transform the data from a two-dimensional tableinto an automatically generated application that is modifiable andcustomizable by the user.

In one embodiment, data sources 112 may be discovered by developerenvironment 110 based on user credentials associated with user 104. Forexample, user 104 may log-in to developer environment 110 with usercredentials associated with a user profile accessible by developerenvironment 110. In this example, the user profile may store data sourcelocations and associated credentials that user 104 has previously usedin interacting with developer environment 110. In other examples,developer environment 110 may detect a data source location associatedwith user 104 based on user credentials, and prompt user 104 to provideaccess to the detected data source location via design surface 116. Instill other examples, developer environment 110 may be associated withan enterprise network, and one or more data source locationscorresponding to the enterprise network may be provided as some of thedata sources locations available for selection in connections list 124.In another embodiment, data sources 112 may be provided to developerenvironment 110 by a discovery service, and developer environment mayexpose data sources 112 as connections list 124 at design surface 116.

Developer environment 110 identifies data sources, identifies data setsfrom the data sources for import, and infers data types for importeddata sets based in part on set of policies 126. Set of policies 126 mayinclude, without limitation, rules, parameters, and constraints foranalyzing data, inferring data types, identifying subsets of data forincorporation into a generated application, selecting a layout, and/orany other operation associated with automatic generation of anapplication from data. At least some of the policies in set of policies126 include rules and parameters associated with historical data sourcesassociated with a user, types of data associated with types of datavalues, permissions, data sensitivity, data restrictions, how theapplication is using the data, a type of data being captured by theapplication, or any other suitable parameter.

At least some of the policies in set of policies 126 include a set ofconstraints used to identify relevant subsets of data from selected datasets for incorporation into a generated application. The set ofconstraints may include display constraints, performance constraints,and telemetry constraints. Display constraints may be associated withthe display and/or layout within the generated application, such asvertical display screen real estate for example. Performance constraintsmay include constraints on an anticipated number of entities orexpressions that may be introduced in a generated application, a measureof complexity of application controls, a measure or number of databinding between subsets of data, or any other suitable performanceconstraint. Telemetry constraints may include learned knowledgeassociated with other users or previously developed applications fromdata within developer environment 110, or other instances of developerenvironment 110, for example. As an example, a telemetry constraint maybe learned knowledge that users in similar development situations preferspecific combinations of columns or column types.

In some examples, design logic of the developer environment uses the setof constraints, along with the inferred data types, and/or metadata ofthe input data set, to generate application logic that checks whetherend user input is acceptable to the data source. Different checks may bemade by the generated application logic of the automatically generatedapplication, including but not limited to whether a data capture fieldis designed to require a value, whether a value may be properlyconverted to an inferred data type, and whether a data field contains avalue within an acceptable range based on parameters or other rulesincluded within the set of constraints. For example, a data capturefield may be designed to require a value in order for an applicationlogic check to allow submission of the input data. In other examples,data input of text into a data input field that is bound to numericvalues may return an incorrect result at the application logic check. Inyet another example, a data filed may have a parameter that defines anacceptable range, such as a data field that defines the acceptable rangeof values to be within a certain time period.

The generated application logic may provide feedback to an end user toprompt a user to correct data input before submission to the datasource, for example. The application logic may also be configured toblock data submission to the data source if a prompted correction is notmade, in some examples. After submission to the data source, the datasource may detect an issue with submitted data, which may becommunicated to the application logic. The application logic may thenprovide feedback to the end user about the issue and possiblysuggestions for correction. Feedback may take many forms, such asvisual, audio, or tactile alerts, for example, or other suitablenotifications provided via electronic messaging, instant messaging,pop-up notifications, and the like.

In other examples, design logic uses the set of constraints, along withthe inferred data types, and/or metadata of the input data set, todetermine an initial layout to select for the automatically generatedapplication. This layout selection may be based on: a type of data; aquantity of data, such as a total width of a data set in columns forexample; what will be done with the data; or similar heuristics, forexample. Additionally, some metadata may be included with the input dataset that indicates one or more columns of the input data are desired forinclusion, or otherwise provides additional data for use by design logicin determining a layout selection.

User 104 points to a data source, selects a data set, and developerenvironment 110 builds out an application document that the user maythen modify. In other words, using data selected by a user, developerenvironment 110 automatically generates a customizable applicationtemplate from the selected data. User 104 may then share theapplication, or publish the application, and may still further customizethe application using the application document generated from the data.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a developerenvironment for generating an application from data. Developerenvironment 200 is an illustrative example of one implementation ofdeveloper environment 110 in FIG. 1. Developer environment 200 includesdesign surface 202 and design logic 204.

Design surface 202 may be an interactive canvas for receiving sourcedata, providing a modifiable application document, and receivinginteractions with the source data and modifiable application document.For example, design surface 202 may be a portion of developerenvironment 200 that is displayed via a user interface and is configuredto receive user interaction. Design surface 202 may include design tools206, which may be application resources of developer environment 200.For example, design tools 206 may include component library 118, layoutlibrary 120, and theme library 122 of FIG. 1.

Design logic 204 may include a number of algorithms, rules, andparameters for automatically generating an application using receivedsource data, data types for subsets of the source data, and generatingcontrols for the inferred data types as part of the automaticallygenerated application, such that the generated application isautomatically designed based on the data itself. For example, designlogic 204 may include, without limitation, data connection mechanism208, data inference mechanism 210, control generator 212, layoutgenerator 214, theme manager 216, and data policy mechanism 218.

In an exemplary operation, design surface 202 may receive a connectionslist 220 via data connection mechanism 208. Connections list 220 mayprovide one or more identified data sources for selection of data forapplication design. Identified data source 222 is an illustrativeexample of one possible data source, such as a cloud storage locationfor example. Design surface 202 provides connections list 220 as aninteractive list that may expose selectable data or data sets stored atidentified data source 222. Design surface 202 receives a selection ofdata set 224 and imports data set 224 into developer environment 200.

Data inference mechanism 210 analyzes data set 224 to identify one ormore subsets of data and infer a data type for each identified subset ofdata. As an illustrative example, data inference mechanism 210 may inferdata type-A 226 data type-B 228 and data type-C 230 from data set 224.In other examples, more than three data types may be inferred, or lessthan three data types may be inferred. Data set 224 is an illustrativeexample and not intended to provide any limitations on the number ofsubsets of data that may be contained within a data set, or the numberof different data types that may be inferred from a single data set.

In one embodiment, data inference mechanism 210 analyzes the data itselffrom data set 224, parsing the values of data set 224 to infer differenttypes of data, if applicable, and infer a specific data type for eachidentified subset of data. For example, data set 224 may be aspreadsheet document and data inference mechanism 210 may analyze andparse each cell in a given column of the spreadsheet to determine thatall of the cells within the given column have one of two values. Datainference mechanism 210 may infer that the data type for the givencolumn is Boolean logic in this example. In another example, datainference mechanism 210 may identify the specific value of cells, suchthat the cells within the given column have either a value of yes or no,and infer Boolean data type from that type of analysis. In yet anotherexample, data inference mechanism 210 may parse another column of thespreadsheet to determine that the cells of that other column all containnumerical values. Data inference mechanism 210 may identify a pattern ofthe numerical values, such as a sequence that is typically found indates or timestamps, and infer a calendar date for the data in the othercolumn. These are just a few of many possible examples of data inferencemechanism 210 parsing the data itself to infer a data type for data orsubsets of data within data set 224.

Control generator 212 uses the inferred data types from data inferencemechanism 210 to generate a control type for an inferred data type. Insome examples, control generator 212 may use data control table 232 toidentify a control type for an inferred data type. Data control table232 may be a table that maps a data type to one or more control typessuitable for the data type, for example. In other examples, controlgenerator 212 may generate a control type based in part on user datafrom user profile 234, such as past user selection of control types forspecific data types, or based in part on telemetry data 236. Forexample, telemetry data 236 may provide a default control type usedfrequently with an inferred data type.

Layout generator 214 uses the controls generated by control generator212 to provide a visual layout of the generated controls and data set224. Design surface 202 provides application document 238, whichvisually exposes data 240 from data set 224, generated controls 242 fromcontrol generator 212, and layout 244 from layout generator 214 asapplication document 238. Application document 238 is a modifiableapplication automatically generated by design logic 204 using data set224. As used herein, automatically refers to a process that occurswithout user or administrator intervention. In other words, a selectionof data is received at design surface 202 and application document 238is generated by design logic 204 using the received data, with no otheroutside intervention.

Application document 238 is automatically generated to include forms246. Forms 246 provide parameters and visual guidance for modifyingapplication document 238. For example, forms 246 may include browse 248,detail 250, and edit 252. Browse 248 is a form, or page, of applicationdocument 238 that provides for visual search and viewing of data set224. Detail 250 is a form, or page, of application document 238 thatprovides for visual viewing of sub-data, or details of data set 224,such as drilling down into records to expose different aspects of thatrecord. As an example, a data set may include a number of records, whichmay be scrolled through or scanned at a high level using browse 248. Inthis example, the details of an individual record may be viewed usingdetail 250. Edit 252 provides a form, or page, for modifying data 240,controls 242, layout 244, and/or theme 254 within application document238. Theme 254 is selected by theme manager 216. Theme 254 may be adefault theme, or a selected theme, in these examples.

Telemetry data 236 may include machine learning information derived fromanalysis of a distributed developer environment and previousapplications generated using data. For example, telemetry data 236 mayinclude information on what data types were inferred, whether theinference was corrected or confirmed, what types of controls weregenerated for what types of data, what types of layouts were used forwhat types of data, and so on. User profile 234 may include historicalinformation corresponding to user interaction with developer environment200, as well as other user information, such as user credentials 256.Historical information may include who a user has shared previouslygenerated applications with, where a user has previously selected dataor a portion of data from, and other historical application design anddevelopment information associated with the user. In some examples, theuser intent may be determined in part based on past user interactionswith the developer environment or past user selections corresponding tothe selected data, user modifications to automatically generatedapplication documents, or both. The user intent may be inferred by dataon past user selections or interactions via data collected throughapplication analytics in association with the user profile. In otherexamples, the user intent may be determined based on telemetry, such asthe a data type inference for a given value or set of values used withsome frequency or selected over other data types by other users, thegenerated controls for data types that were modified or confirmed viauser interaction, and/or the other parameters, selections, and data usedin the current application design.

Data policy mechanism 218 enforces policies attached to source data,such as data set 224, as well as any other policies, such as userpolicies, enterprise policies, and the like. Data constraint mechanism258 uses a number of methods to determine which columns of data from theselected data set are subject to the initial application generation, orapplication document generation. Not all columns are subjected tocontrol generator 212, in some examples. Data constraint mechanism 258employs one or more constraints from a set of constraints, such as a setof constraints from set of policies 126 in FIG. 1 for example, toidentify a relevant set of columns for application generation. Forexample, a set of constraints may be employed to find a relevant set ofcolumns, such as: total size or width of the data set in columns;metadata on the data set that indicates which columns may be consideredrequired; constraints on what may be displayable, such as non-hiddencolumns and columns that may be relevant to an end user; displayconstraints within the generated application, for example vertical realestate; performance constraints, such as the anticipated number ofentities and expressions to be introduced in the generated application;some measure of complexity of the cards that each relevant column ofdata binds to; or telemetry constraints, such as the knowledge thatusers in similar scenarios prefer specific combinations of columns orcolumn types.

Control generator 212 may use the inferred data types from datainference mechanism 210, as well as the set of relevant fieldsdetermined by data constraint mechanism 258, to generate a control typefor an inferred data type, in these examples.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating operation of thecomputing device to generate an application from data. One or morecomponents described in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 perform the exemplaryoperations described below.

The process begins by importing a selected data set from a selected datasource at operation 302. The selected data set may be identified by userselection of a data source from a connections list provided at a designsurface, and further selection of the data set from the user selecteddata source to generate an application.

The process analyzes the imported data to identify one or more subsetsof data at operation 304. As an example, the data set may be aspreadsheet having a plurality of columns, and the process may parse theplurality of columns and analyze the values within the plurality ofcolumns to identify different subsets of data. For example, anindividual column may be considered an individual subset of data, in theexample of a spreadsheet. In other example, where the imported data setis a set of tables, an individual table may be considered as anindividual subset of data.

The process then infers a first data type of a first subset of data atoperation 306. The inference of the first data type is performed by acomponent, such as data inference mechanism 210 in FIG. 2, analyzing thedata of imported data set to identify subsets of data, if any, and tofurther identify values of the data or subsets of data and infer a datatype based on the data values themselves.

The process generates a first control type for the inferred first datatype at operation 308. The first control type is generated by acomponent, such as control generator 212 in FIG. 2, identifying adefault control type for the inferred first data type, or mapping theinferred first data type to one or more possible control types, orotherwise determining a suitable control type for the inferred firstdata type. In some examples, the process generates the first controltype based at least in part on user profile data or telemetry data,which may inform on past user selections for control types andassociated data types, or frequently used control types for specificdata types.

The process determines whether there is another subset of data in theimported data set at operation 310. In response to a determination thatthere is not another subset of data, the process generates a layoutusing the first control type and the imported data set at operation 312,with the process terminating thereafter.

In response to a determination that there is another subset of data inthe imported data set, the process infers a second data type from thedata set at operation 314, and generates a second control type for theinferred second data type at operation 316. As an example, the inferredfirst data type may be a string data type, and the first generatedcontrol type may be a text box control, while the inferred second datatype may be a date data type and the second generated control type maybe a calendar control. Generating the control type for the inferred datatype binds the associated data of that data type to the control in theautomatically generated application, such that when the applicationdocument is provided, the data associated with the first data type isvisually exposed via the a control of the first control type.

The process then determines if there is another subset of data in theimported data set at operation 318. If the process determines that thereare no other subsets of data to infer data types and generate controlsfor, the process generates a layout using the generated control typesand the imported data set at operation 320, with the process terminatingthereafter. If the process determines that there is another subset ofdata in the imported data set, the process may iteratively infer nextdata types for next subsets of data at operation 322, generate nextcontrol types for the inferred next data types at operation 324, andreturn to operation 318 to determine if any subsets of data remainbefore moving to operation 320 and generating the layout using thegenerated control types and the imported data set.

Although first and second inferred data types are discussed, with firstand second generated control types, any number of data types may beinferred and any number of control types may be generated using theimported data set. Additionally, the first generated control type may bedifferent from the second generated control type based on the associatedinferred data types.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating operation of thecomputing device to infer data types and generate controls for theimported data. The exemplary operations presented in FIG. 4 may beperformed by one or more components described in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, forexample.

The process begins receiving a set of data from a data source atoperation 402. The set of data may be any two dimensional flat table,such as a spreadsheet in some examples. In an illustrative embodiment, auser may select a stored spreadsheet from a data source, such as a cloudstorage location, and an application may be automatically generated anddesigned using that selected spreadsheet based on analysis of the datawithin the spreadsheet by design logic, such as design logic 204 in FIG.2. In other words, a user may receive an automatically generatedapplication that is modifiable and provides interaction with the data ofthe spreadsheet by virtue of selecting the spreadsheet as the data setdesired for the application.

The process analyzes a first subset of data from the set of data atoperation 404. One or more subsets of data may be identified throughdesign logic analysis of an imported data set, by parsing the dataitself to identify subsets of data or different types of data, forexample. The process determines whether the first subset of datacomprises yes/no values at operation 406. In response to a determinationthat the first subset of data comprises yes/no values, the processinfers a Boolean data type at operation 408.

If the process determines that the first subset of data does notcomprises yes/no values, the process determines whether the first subsetof data comprises three or more different values within a given cell atoperation 410. If the process determines that the first subset of datadoes comprise three or more different values, the process infers a listdata type at operation 412. If the process determines that the firstsubset of data does not comprise three or more different values, theprocess determines whether the first subset of data comprises numericalvalues at operation 414. If the process determines that the first subsetof data does comprise numerical values, based on the actual numericalvalues of the first subset of data, the process infers a date data typeat operation 416. In this illustrative example, the analysis of the datagoes beyond identifying alphanumeric characters, analyzing the dataitself to infer a data type based on the actual data. In the example ofnumerical values, the inference of a date data type may be based on theidentification of numerals, the format of the numerals, the sequence ofthe numerals, the actual numerals used, in addition to user profileand/or telemetry data.

If the process determines that the first subset of data does notcomprise numerical values, the process continues to analyze the firstsubset of data to infer a first data type for the first subset of dataat operation 418. Any number of different values may be identified inthe received set of data, beyond the examples contemplated here forillustrative purposes. For examples, values may include an image, auniversal record locator (URL), global positioning system coordinates,or any other suitable data that may be analyzed for inference of a datatype.

The process generates controls for the inferred data type at operation420, which are used along with a generated layout to automaticallygenerate an application document from the received set of data.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary table illustrating a data control table formapping inferred data types to control types. Data control table 500 maybe an illustrative example of one embodiment of data control table 232in FIG. 2. Data control table 500 provides mapping between data typesand one or more control types, which may be used by a control generatorto identify a default control or a learned control type for an inferreddata type, in these examples.

For illustrative purposes, data control table 500 provides example datatypes, default control types and other control types. A default controltype may be a control type preconfigured as a default control typeselection for a data type, a control type selected as a learned matchcontrol for a data type based on telemetry data, a control type selectedas a user-preferred control type for a data type based on user historyand/or machine learning, or any other suitable determination of adefault control type.

In this example, a date data type may map to a calendar control type anda label control type. A calendar control type may be a default controltype, while a label control type may be another compatible control typefor the date data type, such that a user modification may be received tochange the calendar control type to a label control type for theidentified date data type, in some examples. An inferred data type of“address” may be compatible with a map control type and a picturecontrol type, such that a default selection of a control generator maybe to generate a map control for address data types, while a imagecapture of the address data type, such as via optical characterrecognition (OCR) for example, may also map to a picture or imagecontrol type.

A string control type may map to a text box control in some examples,and a gallery control type in other examples. An image data type mayhave a default control type of a picture control, but may also becompatible with a text box control, such as an image capture incombination with OCR data for example. Boolean data may map to a toggleswitch, in this example, while a list data type maps to a drop down menuor a gallery.

The data types, control types, and mapping possibilities illustrated indata control table 500 are provided as an illustrative example of onetype of table that may provide associations between data types andcontrol types. The examples provided in FIG. 5 do not impose anylimitations on the data types that may be inferred, or the control typesthat may be generated, by aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an interactive designsurface, such as design surface 202 in FIG. 2. Design surface 600 may bean illustrative example of a graphical user interface displaying adeveloper environment, for example.

Design surface 600 may include a data component 602, which may be aselectable component to enter an application-from-data mode of anapplication designer. Data component 602 may be one example of a designtool, such as design tools 206 in FIG. 2. Selection of data component602 may provide an interactive connections list of data sources, such asdata sources 112, for example.

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary diagram illustrating user selection of adata source for generating an application from data. Design surface 700illustrates a design surface displaying a connections list for datasources previously connected or known to the developer environment basedupon user selection 702 of known connections, depicted as “myconnections.” Data sources may be known to the developer environmentbased on user credentials, past user connections, discoveredconnections, or any other suitable means.

FIGS. 8A & 8B depict exemplary diagrams illustrating user selection of adata set for application design via an interactive design surface.Design surface 800 illustrates a selection of data source 802, whichexposes datasets 804 of the selected data source. Datasets 804 mayprovide a list of selectable sets of data, such as individual files forexample. User selection of dataset 806 may provide design surface 800 todisplay selectable tables, or other subsets of data from dataset 806,which may be selected as the data for import and application generation.In this illustrative example, list of tables 810 provides an interactivevisual list for selection of a dataset to import. Here, asset dataset812 is selected, and may be used to automatically generate anapplication.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, and 9F depict exemplary diagrams illustratingan interactive design surface for providing a modifiable applicationdocument from the selected set of data. Design surface 900 is depictedthroughout FIGS. 9A-9F as providing different views and exposingdifferent functionality for modification of an automatically generatedapplication document from data. Modifications, or editing capabilities,may occur as local updates or remote updates, in some examples. Localupdates are recorded, analyzed, and processed on the client hosting thegenerated application, in some cases by leveraging local compiled rules,updating the document representation at the client based on the localupdates. Remote updates, which may involve more complex operations by adocument server or specific changes to an application, involve sendingdesign changes to a developer environment.

As an example, remote updates may include editing a layout, whichinvolves a client device recording a user selection, which in turn makesa call to a document server storing the generated application documentto remove the current layout and apply the new selected layout. Oncethese calls are made, the document server, which is maintaining thestate of the application, in the document representation form calls theDocumentServices, CreateCompleteScreenLayout method, which updates thedocument representation of the application on the document server.

Remote updates to the application document via user modification may beincrementally compiled, with deltas of the changed application packagesent to a client device. This may be enabled by the client sending theserver hashes of the local state of the application files, and thenreceiving the incremental updates from the document server to update thepreview version of the user's application in real time.

Local updates, for example, may include theme switching. Theme switchingmay be achieved by the local update of the application code on a clientdevice itself, however, the client may still notify the document serverto maintain the correct server representation as well as to retrievecompiled rules. The client records user actions, uses compiled rules togenerate JavaScript or other suitable code, which the application maythen execute to produce the desired result. This also enables otherclients listening to the application document to receive the updatesmade on the active client.

Referring to FIG. 9A, browse form 902, detail form 904, and edit form906 are illustrative examples of forms 246 in FIG. 2, which may beautomatically generated as part of application document 238 generatedusing dataset 224. Design logic 204 may use one or more algorithms fromset of policies 126 to map the imported data set 224 to one of a set ofavailable target layouts. The design logic may identify and/or inferdata types, data constraints, and layout constraints in determining alayout to select for the application document. In some examples,metadata of the input data set may also be considered as part of thelayout selection determination.

The browse form 902 is selected, in this example, to provide a view ofthe imported data, the visual layout of the data, and any selected themefor the application. Data window 908 visually exposes the control typeand corresponding values from the imported data.

Referring now to FIG. 9B, layout window 910 visually exposes the layoutof the controls within the application, and the data within thecontrols. Layout window 910 may provide selectable layout options toallow a user to customize or change the visual appearance of how data isarranged within a control, or to otherwise customize the visualappearance or location of controls within the application. In thisexample, list-2 912 may be a currently selected layout of a listcontrol, providing for the arrangement of data within the list controltype. A user may select an alternative layout option to change thearrangement of data with the list control of the application during usercustomization of the automatically generated application document. Usercustomization of the generated application document may be facilitatedusing the forms, such as browse, detail, and edit, as well as associatedwindows, such as data window, layout window, and theme window, forexample. In this way, a user may customize an application to obtain adesired visual appearance, manage how data is accessed within theapplication, or with which controls, and so on, providing a modifiableapplication document for future customization as desired.

Referring now to FIG. 9C, selection of detail form 904 is depicted,which may expose a record detail 914. Record detail 914 displays how adrill-down into a record of the imported data visually appears in thegenerated application, for example. Data window 908 provides visualexposure of the cards used in association with data capture fields, inthis example.

Cards, as used herein, refer to a composite control with a predefinedstructure. Cards are composite in the sense that multiple aspects of avalue obtained from the input data set are being tracked and representedvisually. These aspects include, but are not limited to: whether thevalue is desired for inclusion by the connection or the data set forvalidation purposes; whether the value has numeric boundaries and whatthose boundaries are; whether the text value has length limits, and whatthose limits are; whether a larger operation in the generatedapplication interacting with the input data set has produced errorsrelated to the specific value, and what those errors are; and so on. Asone example, one or more cards may be preconfigured user interfaceelements for data input capture, such as a text field input box forexample. As another example, cards may be thought of as a visualrepresentation for a value of a certain type coming from one column ofone row of a data set. Cards are specific to data types and tie into theauto-generated controls of the application. Cards will consume andproduce data for the underlying data set to which they are bound, forexample.

Some exemplary cards may include, without limitation, ink to characterrecognition cards, dictation cards, audio cards, voice recognitioncards, barcode scanner cards, quick response (QR) code scanner cards,image cards, numeric cards, or any other suitable composite control.Image cards, for example, will visually display images and otherpictographic data. Numeric cards will visually show numeric information,for example as a formatted number or as a slider bar that enforcescertain numeric boundaries.

Referring now to FIG. 9D, selection of edit form 906 is depicted, whichmay expose record detail 914 in a modifiable, or edit, mode. Data window908 adapts in response to selection of edit form 906 to display editablefields of record detail 914, in this example.

Referring now to FIG. 9E, within the edit mode of data window 908,selection of an editable field related to a card may be selected,exposing card types 916. Card types 916 may provide an interactivevisual list of one or more card types suitable for the data field, forexample. In this example, card 918 may be selected, which may be an OCRcard type. Selection of card 918 in this example modifies the card typeused for data capture field 920, such that at runtime (depicted in FIG.9F) a handwritten signature may be captured in the data capture field920 and the recognized text provided in the associated data field below.

FIG. 9A-9F depict just a small sample of the numerous examples by whichan application document, automatically generated from data, may bemodified and customized by a user via interaction with design surface900.

Additional Examples

In some examples, an application generated from data may be furthermodified by adding additional pages, or screens, similar to how a usermight interact with presentation software to add a slide to a slideshow.In this example, the design surface may have a design tool ribbon thatincludes an “insert page” tool, which upon selection, similar toselecting insert slide, adds a new page to the selected location betweenpages, or after/before a page of the generated application. In addition,layout selections, and other visual components, may be dragged anddropped onto the modifiable application document similar as that of aslide show screen in presentation software, leveraging the skills a usermay already possess from previous interactions with presentationsoftware into application development skills without the use of code orother developer expertise.

In other examples, data sources may include, without limitation, socialmedia sources, customer relationship management (CRM) systems,databases, software as service (SAS) sources, cloud storage sources, orany other suitable data source. Data sets may include, withoutlimitation, worksheets, tables, customer relationship management (CRM)tables, database records, or any other suitable sets of data.

User intent for generated controls, as well as layouts, and even themesmay also be inferred based on telemetry or machine learning. In anexample scenario, a default layout for a user may be based upon machinelearning from past user behavior, or based on telemetry for a new user.

In addition, other forms, or pages, of the automatically generatedapplication document are contemplated by this disclosure. For example,although three forms are illustrated, another form may be a dashboardform, or dashboard page, of an automatically generated application fromdata. The dashboard form may provide a summary view of the data that maybe viewed or browsed in the browse screen, or may provide another visualsummary of the data as a whole that the generated application isdesigned around. For example, another visual summary could be a statusor a chart, for example, providing an overview of the data within theapplication

Alternatively or in addition to the other examples described herein,examples include any combination of the following:

-   -   wherein at least one of the inferred first data type and the        inferred second data type is inferred based on user profile        data;    -   wherein at least one of the inferred first data type and the        inferred second data type is inferred based on telemetry data;    -   receiving a selection of a third control type for the second        data type, the third control type being different from the        second control type;    -   re-generating the layout that includes the first control type        and the third control type;    -   generating the application document using the generated layout,        the application document including at least three forms;    -   wherein the at least three forms comprise a browsing form, a        detail form, and an edit form;    -   wherein at least one of the inferred first data type and the        inferred second data type is inferred based on a source data        type within the first set of data from the data source;    -   wherein the data source is a spreadsheet, and wherein the        inferred first data type is inferred based on one or more values        in a first column of the spreadsheet;    -   wherein at least one of the inferred first data type and the        inferred second data type is inferred based on metadata provided        by a connection provider of the data source;    -   a data connection mechanism that identifies one or more data        sources and provides the one or more identified data sources as        a connection list to the design surface;    -   a theme manager that provides a list of themes to the design        surface and applies a selected theme from the list of themes for        the generated application document;    -   a data control table that provides a mapping between one or more        data types and one or more control types;    -   wherein the received data set is a spreadsheet;    -   wherein the received data set is a number of tables;    -   wherein the generated application document is a template, and        wherein the template is modifiable;    -   the data inference mechanism determining whether the first        subset of data comprises yes/no values;    -   responsive to determining that the first subset of data        comprises yes/no values, inferring a Boolean data type;    -   the data inference mechanism determining whether the first        subset of data comprises three or more values;    -   responsive to determining that the first subset of data        comprises three or more values, inferring a list data type;    -   the data inference mechanism determining whether the first        subset of data comprises numerical values;    -   the data inference mechanism determining whether the first        subset of data comprises numerical values.

In some examples, the operations illustrated in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 may beimplemented as software instructions encoded on a computer readablemedium, in hardware programmed or designed to perform the operations, orboth. For example, aspects of the disclosure may be implemented as asystem on a chip or other circuitry including a plurality ofinterconnected, electrically conductive elements.

While the aspects of the disclosure have been described in terms ofvarious examples with their associated operations, a person skilled inthe art would appreciate that a combination of operations from anynumber of different examples is also within scope of the aspects of thedisclosure.

While no personally identifiable information is tracked by aspects ofthe disclosure, examples have been described with reference to datamonitored and/or collected from the users. In some examples, notice maybe provided to the users of the collection of the data (e.g., via adialog box or preference setting) and users are given the opportunity togive or deny consent for the monitoring and/or collection. The consentmay take the form of opt-in consent or opt-out consent.

Exemplary Operating Environment

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a suitable computing and networkingenvironment 1000 on which the examples of FIG. 1 may be implemented. Thecomputing system environment 1000 is only one example of a suitablecomputing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation asto the scope of use or functionality of the disclosure. Neither shouldthe computing environment 1000 be interpreted as having any dependencyor requirement relating to any one or combination of componentsillustrated in the exemplary operating environment 1000.

The disclosure is operational with numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the disclosure include,but are not limited to: personal computers, server computers, hand-heldor laptop devices, tablet devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include any of the above systemsor devices, and the like.

The disclosure may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth, whichperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.The disclosure may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in local and/or remotecomputer storage media including memory storage devices and/or computerstorage devices. As used herein, computer storage devices refer tohardware devices.

With reference to FIG. 10, an exemplary system for implementing variousaspects of the disclosure may include a general purpose computing devicein the form of a computer 1010. Components of the computer 1010 mayinclude, but are not limited to, a processing unit 1020, a system memory1030, and a system bus 1021 that couples various system componentsincluding the system memory to the processing unit 1020. The system bus1021 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memorybus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any ofa variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus also known as Mezzanine bus.

The computer 1010 typically includes a variety of computer-readablemedia. Computer-readable media may be any available media that may beaccessed by the computer 1010 and includes both volatile and nonvolatilemedia, and removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile andnonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any methodor technology for storage of information such as computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Memory1031 and 1032 are examples of computer storage media. Computer storagemedia includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory orother memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or otheroptical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which maybe used to store the desired information and which may accessed by thecomputer 1010. Computer storage media does not, however, includepropagated signals. Rather, computer storage media excludes propagatedsignals. Any such computer storage media may be part of computer 1010.

Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated datasignal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includesany information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as awired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such asacoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.

The system memory 1030 includes computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 1031and random access memory (RAM) 1032. A basic input/output system 1033(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computer 1010, such as during start-up, istypically stored in ROM 1031. RAM 1032 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 1020. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 10 illustrates operating system 1034, applicationprograms, such as developer environment 1035, other program modules 1036and program data 1037.

The computer 1010 may also include other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 10 illustrates a hard disk drive 1041 that reads from or writes tonon-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a universal serial bus (USB)port 1051 that provides for reads from or writes to a removable,nonvolatile memory 1052, and an optical disk drive 1055 that reads fromor writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk 1056 such as a CD ROMor other optical media. Other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that may be used in theexemplary operating environment include, but are not limited to,magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks,digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. Thehard disk drive 1041 is typically connected to the system bus 1021through a non-removable memory interface such as interface 1040, and USBport 1051 and optical disk drive 1055 are typically connected to thesystem bus 1021 by a removable memory interface, such as interface 1050.

The drives and their associated computer storage media, described aboveand illustrated in FIG. 10, provide storage of computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputer 1010. In FIG. 10, for example, hard disk drive 1041 isillustrated as storing operating system 1044, developer environment1045, other program modules 1046 and program data 1047. Note that thesecomponents may either be the same as or different from operating system1034, developer environment 1035, other program modules 1036, andprogram data 1037. Operating system 1044, developer environment 1045,other program modules 1046, and program data 1047 are given differentnumbers herein to illustrate that, at a minimum, they are differentcopies. A user may enter commands and information into the computer 1010through input devices such as a tablet, or electronic digitizer, 1064, amicrophone 1063, a keyboard 1062 and pointing device 1061, commonlyreferred to as mouse, trackball or touch pad. Other input devices notshown in FIG. 10 may include a joystick, game pad, satellite dish,scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connectedto the processing unit 1020 through a user input interface 1060 that iscoupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interface andbus structures, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serialbus (USB). A monitor 1091 or other type of display device is alsoconnected to the system bus 1021 via an interface, such as a videointerface 1090. The monitor 1091 may also be integrated with atouch-screen panel or the like. Note that the monitor and/or touchscreen panel may be physically coupled to a housing in which thecomputing device is incorporated, such as in a tablet-type personalcomputer. In addition, computers such as computer 1010 may also includeother peripheral output devices such as speakers 1095 and printer 1096,which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 1094 orthe like.

The computer 1010 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer1080. The remote computer 1080 may be a personal computer, a server, arouter, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, andtypically includes many or all of the elements described above relativeto the computer 1010, although only a memory storage device 1081 hasbeen illustrated in FIG. 10. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 10include one or more local area networks (LAN) 1071 and one or more widearea networks (WAN) 1073, but may also include other networks. Suchnetworking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-widecomputer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1010 isconnected to the LAN 1071 through a network interface or adapter 1070.When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 1010 typicallyincludes a modem 1072 or other means for establishing communicationsover the WAN 1073, such as the Internet. The modem 1072, which may beinternal or external, may be connected to the system bus 1021 via theuser input interface 1060 or other appropriate mechanism. A wirelessnetworking component such as comprising an interface and antenna may becoupled through a suitable device such as an access point or peercomputer to a WAN or LAN. In a networked environment, program modulesdepicted relative to the computer 1010, or portions thereof, may bestored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 10 illustrates remote application programs 1085 asresiding on memory device 1081. It may be appreciated that the networkconnections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing acommunications link between the computers may be used.

With regard to FIG. 11, an exemplary block diagram illustrates acloud-computing environment for application development. Architecture1100 illustrates an exemplary cloud-computing infrastructure, suitablefor use in implementing aspects of the disclosure. Architecture 1100should not be interpreted as having any dependency or requirementrelated to any single component or combination of components illustratedtherein. In addition, any number of nodes, virtual machines, datacenters, role instances, or combinations thereof may be employed toachieve the desired functionality within the scope of embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

The distributed computing environment of FIG. 11 includes a publicnetwork 1102, a private network 1104, and a dedicated network 1106.Public network 1102 may be a public cloud, for example. Private network1104 may be a private enterprise network or private cloud, whilededicated network 1106 may be a third party network or dedicated cloud.In this example, private network 1104 may host a customer data center1110, and dedicated network 1106 may host an internet service provider1112. Hybrid cloud 1108 may include any combination of public network1102, private network 1104, and dedicated network 1106. For example,dedicated network 1106 may be optional, with hybrid cloud 1108 comprisedof public network 1102 and private network 1104.

Public network 1102 may include data centers configured to host andsupport operations, including tasks of a distributed application,according to the fabric controller 1118. It will be understood andappreciated that data center 1114 and data center 1116 shown in FIG. 11is merely an example of one suitable implementation for accommodatingone or more distributed applications and is not intended to suggest anylimitation as to the scope of use or functionality of embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Neither should data center 1114 and data center 1116be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement related to anysingle resource, combination of resources, combination of servers (e.g.server 1120, server 1122, and server 1124) combination of nodes (e.g.,nodes 1132 and 1134), or set of APIs to access the resources, servers,and/or nodes.

Data center 1114 illustrates a data center comprising a plurality ofservers, such as server 1120, server 1122, and server 1124. A fabriccontroller 1118 is responsible for automatically managing the serversand distributing tasks and other resources within the data center 1114.By way of example, the fabric controller 1118 may rely on a servicemodel (e.g., designed by a customer that owns the distributedapplication) to provide guidance on how, where, and when to configureserver 1122 and how, where, and when to place application 1126 andapplication 1128 thereon. In one embodiment, one or more role instancesof a distributed application may be placed on one or more of the serversof data center 1114, where the one or more role instances may representthe portions of software, component programs, or instances of roles thatparticipate in the distributed application. In another embodiment, oneor more of the role instances may represent stored data that isaccessible to the distributed application.

Data center 1116 illustrates a data center comprising a plurality ofnodes, such as node 1132 and node 1134. One or more virtual machines mayrun on nodes of data center 1116, such as virtual machine 1136 of node1134 for example. Although FIG. 11 depicts a single virtual node on asingle node of data center 1116, any number of virtual nodes may beimplemented on any number of nodes of the data center in accordance withillustrative embodiments of the disclosure. Generally, virtual machine1136 is allocated to role instances of a distributed application, orservice application, based on demands (e.g., amount of processing load)placed on the distributed application. As used herein, the phrase“virtual machine” is not meant to be limiting, and may refer to anysoftware, application, operating system, or program that is executed bya processing unit to underlie the functionality of the role instancesallocated thereto. Further, the virtual machine 1136 may includeprocessing capacity, storage locations, and other assets within the datacenter 1116 to properly support the allocated role instances.

In operation, the virtual machines are dynamically assigned resources ona first node and second node of the data center, and endpoints (e.g.,the role instances) are dynamically placed on the virtual machines tosatisfy the current processing load. In one instance, a fabriccontroller 1130 is responsible for automatically managing the virtualmachines running on the nodes of data center 1116 and for placing therole instances and other resources (e.g., software components) withinthe data center 1116. By way of example, the fabric controller 1130 mayrely on a service model (e.g., designed by a customer that owns theservice application) to provide guidance on how, where, and when toconfigure the virtual machines, such as virtual machine 1136, and how,where, and when to place the role instances thereon.

As discussed above, the virtual machines may be dynamically establishedand configured within one or more nodes of a data center. As illustratedherein, node 1132 and node 1134 may be any form of computing devices,such as, for example, a personal computer, a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a mobile device, a consumer electronic device, server(s), thecomputing device 100 of FIG. 1, and the like. In one instance, the nodeshost and support the operations of the virtual machines, whilesimultaneously hosting other virtual machines carved out for supportingother tenants of the data center 1116, such as internal services 1138and hosted services 1140. Often, the role instances may includeendpoints of distinct service applications owned by different customers.

Typically, each of the nodes include, or is linked to, some form of acomputing unit (e.g., central processing unit, microprocessor, etc.) tosupport operations of the component(s) running thereon. As utilizedherein, the phrase “computing unit” generally refers to a dedicatedcomputing device with processing power and storage memory, whichsupports operating software that underlies the execution of software,applications, and computer programs thereon. In one instance, thecomputing unit is configured with tangible hardware elements, ormachines, that are integral, or operably coupled, to the nodes to enableeach device to perform a variety of processes and operations. In anotherinstance, the computing unit may encompass a processor (not shown)coupled to the computer-readable medium (e.g., computer storage mediaand communication media) accommodated by each of the nodes.

The role instances that reside on the nodes support operation of serviceapplications, and may be interconnected via application programminginterfaces (APIs). In one instance, one or more of theseinterconnections may be established via a network cloud, such as publicnetwork 1102. The network cloud serves to interconnect resources, suchas the role instances, which may be distributably placed across variousphysical hosts, such as nodes 1132 and 1134. In addition, the networkcloud facilitates communication over channels connecting the roleinstances of the service applications running in the data center 1116.By way of example, the network cloud may include, without limitation,one or more local area networks (LANs) and/or wide area networks (WANs).Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-widecomputer networks, intranets, and the Internet. Accordingly, the networkis not further described herein.

The examples illustrated and described herein as well as examples notspecifically described herein but within the scope of aspects of thedisclosure constitute exemplary means for automatically generating anapplication using data. For example, the elements illustrated in FIG. 1and FIG. 2, such as when encoded to perform the operations illustratedin FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, constitute exemplary means for receiving aselection of a data source and importing a selected data set from thedata source, exemplary means for inferring data types from the selecteddata set, exemplary means for generating control types for the inferreddata types, and exemplary means for generating a layout using thegenerated controls and the selected data set when automaticallygenerating an application from data.

The order of execution or performance of the operations in examples ofthe disclosure illustrated and described herein is not essential, unlessotherwise specified. That is, the operations may be performed in anyorder, unless otherwise specified, and examples of the disclosure mayinclude additional or fewer operations than those disclosed herein. Forexample, it is contemplated that executing or performing a particularoperation before, contemporaneously with, or after another operation iswithin the scope of aspects of the disclosure.

When introducing elements of aspects of the disclosure or the examplesthereof, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to meanthat there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,”“including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean thatthere may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Theterm “exemplary” is intended to mean “an example of.” The phrase “one ormore of the following: A, B, and C” means “at least one of A and/or atleast one of B and/or at least one of C.”

Having described aspects of the disclosure in detail, it will beapparent that modifications and variations are possible withoutdeparting from the scope of aspects of the disclosure as defined in theappended claims. As various changes could be made in the aboveconstructions, products, and methods without departing from the scope ofaspects of the disclosure, it is intended that all matter contained inthe above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications andalternative constructions, certain illustrated examples thereof areshown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It shouldbe understood, however, that there is no intention to limit thedisclosure to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, theintention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, andequivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

1. A method for generating an application from data, the methodcomprising: importing a first set of data from a data source to a designsurface; analyzing the first set of data from the data source toidentify one or more subsets of data; inferring a first data type fromthe first set of data based on the analysis of the first set of data;identifying a default control type for the inferred first data type;generating a first control type based on the identified default controltype for the inferred first data type; inferring a second data type fromthe first set of data; generating a second control type for the inferredsecond data type, wherein the first control type and the second controltype are different; and generating a layout for an application documentthat includes the first control type and the second control type,wherein the layout is generated automatically without user oradministrative intervention.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein at leastone of the inferred first data type and the inferred second data type isinferred based on user profile data.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinat least one of the inferred first data type and the inferred seconddata type is inferred based on telemetry data.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving a selection of a third control type forthe second data type, the third control type being different from thesecond control type; and re-generating the layout that includes thefirst control type and the third control type.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: generating the application document using thegenerated layout, the application document including at least threeforms.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least three formscomprise a browsing form, a detail form, and an edit form.
 7. The methodof claim 1, wherein at least one of the inferred first data type and theinferred second data type is inferred based on a source data type withinthe first set of data from the data source.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the data source is a spreadsheet, and wherein the inferred firstdata type is inferred based on one or more values in a first column ofthe spreadsheet.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of theinferred first data type and the inferred second data type is inferredbased on metadata provided by a connection provider of the data source.10. A system for generating an application from data, the systemcomprising: a design surface that receives a data set, the designsurface implemented on a processor; a data inference mechanism, coupledto the design surface, that analyzes a first set of data from the dataset to identify and infers a data type of a subset of data from the dataset; a control generator that generates a control for the subset of datausing the inferred data type; and a layout generator that generates anapplication document using the generated control and the subset of datafrom the data set automatically without user or administrativeintervention.
 11. The system of claim 10, further comprising: a dataconnection mechanism that identifies one or more data sources andprovides the one or more identified data sources as a connection list tothe design surface.
 12. The system of claim 10, further comprising: atheme manager that provides a list of themes to the design surface andapplies a selected theme from the list of themes for the generatedapplication document.
 13. The system of claim 10, further comprising: adata control table that provides a mapping between one or more datatypes and one or more control types.
 14. The system of claim 10, whereinthe received data set is a spreadsheet.
 15. The system of claim 10,wherein the received data set is a number of tables.
 16. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the generated application document is a template, andwherein the template is modifiable.
 17. One or more computer readablememories having computer-executable instructions stored thereon forgenerating an application from data, which, on execution by a computer,cause the computer to perform operations comprising: a data inferencemechanism receiving a set of data from a data source; the data inferencemechanism analyzing the set of data to identify one or more subsets ofdata; the data inference mechanism inferring a first data type for anidentified first subset of data based on the analysis of the first setof data and identifying a default control type for the inferred firstdata type; the data inference mechanism sending the inferred first datatype to a control generator for generating a first control based on theidentified default control type for the inferred first data type; thedata inference mechanism inferring a second data type for an identifiedsecond subset of data; and the data inference mechanism sending theinferred second data type to the control generator for generating asecond control for the inferred second data type, wherein the firstcontrol and the second control are different control types.
 18. The oneor more computer readable memories of claim 17, having furthercomputer-executable instructions for: the data inference mechanismdetermining whether the first subset of data comprises yes/no values;and responsive to determining that the first subset of data comprisesyes/no values, inferring a Boolean data type.
 19. The one or morecomputer readable memories of claim 17, having furthercomputer-executable instructions for: the data inference mechanismdetermining whether the first subset of data comprises three or morevalues; and responsive to determining that the first subset of datacomprises three or more values, inferring a list data type.
 20. The oneor more computer storage devices readable memories of claim 17, havingfurther computer-executable instructions for: the data inferencemechanism determining whether the first subset of data comprisesnumerical values; and responsive to determining that the first subset ofdata comprises the numerical values, inferring a date data type.